Apparatuses to hold objects have had broad application to the daily life of humans throughout history. In particular, many apparatuses exist that hold objects in a suspended state. As one example, a clothespin is an apparatus which can be used to hang clothes up for drying, for example, on a clothes line or other cord. As another example, a clip—such as an alligator clip—can be used to hold objects such as clothing, towels, window curtains, shower liners, paper or photographs, or other objects in a suspended state. As one common example, clothes hangers intended to hang pants often include a pair of clips which are used to hold the pants.
Clothespins and clips typically include a biasing member—such as a spring, coil, elastic band, or resilient member—to bias the clothespin or clip toward a state in which the clothespin or clip clamps or grabs onto the object which is being held. As one example, a clothespin or a clip can include a pair of slats that have a pair of jaws at one end. The slats are pivotable relative to each other about a pivot point. In particular, in some designs a spring is placed between the slats on an opposite side of the pivot point to the pair of jaws. The spring pushes the slats outward, causing the jaws of the slats to squeeze together. In other designs an elastic band, a resilient member, or the ends of a coil can be placed around the outer surface of the slats at a position between the jaws and the pivot point. The user can press on the ends of the slats opposite the jaws to open the jaws and place an object therein. After the user ceases providing force, the elastic band, resilient member, or coil causes the jaws to retract and clamp onto the object.
However, the inclusion and reliance upon a biasing member—such as a spring, coil, elastic band, or resilient member—to bias the apparatus toward a state in which the object is held represents a major drawback for such apparatuses. In particular, biasing members are highly susceptible to degradation or loss of functionality over time. For example, a metal spring or rubber band may lose its potency after it is repeatedly stretched or may simply lose its resilient force as it ages and the material corrodes. Thus, apparatuses which rely upon a biasing member to effectively hold objects typically have a limited life span. Such is particularly true for apparatuses which contain low cost or cheap components—which are typically used in large scale manufacturing of simple devices such as clothespins.
Likewise, clothespins or clips that include a pair of slats held together only by the ends of a metal spring or coil may become easily and accidentally disassembled. For example, the end of the metal coil may slide off of one or both of the slats, requiring the user to perform an onerous repair process for an apparatus that should operate in a simple and reliable fashion.
Other example apparatuses to hold objects range from simple hooks (e.g., coat or towel hooks) to shower or window curtain hooks and other apparatuses. Simple hooks such as towel hooks have the drawback that an object can easily slide off the hook if it is not precisely placed onto the hook or if the hook or object is disturbed (e.g., by the opening of a bathroom door on which the hook is mounted). Further, simple hooks typically cannot hold less deformable objects such as paper, photographs, artwork, etc.
Shower or window curtain hooks typically require holes or openings to the punched or formed within the shower or window curtain. For example, a shower curtain may have a number of holes formed at an upper edge. The hooks are placed around a curtain rod and then the curtain is hung from the hooks using the number of holes. One common problem experienced with this set up is that the shower curtain or shower curtain liner may be made from thin plastic material which is relatively easily torn. Once a hole at the upper edge of the curtain has torn, the hook no longer provides any support for that portion of the curtain. This results in the curtain undesirably sagging in certain portions without any remedy except the creation of a new, ineffective hole in the curtain by the curtain owner.
Therefore, a holder apparatus that operates in a simple and reliable fashion is desired. In particular, a holder apparatus that does not rely upon biasing members and which is capable of securely holding objects without holes is desired.